Shadows within Darkness Part 3
by BMIK
Summary: Vincent's past is finally revealed
1. Chapter 1

**Ah, it´s been a while, but finally here´s the third part, dealing with Vincent´s past^^ In the last part, Vincent finally let Lucrecia go, deciding that he wanted to be with Yazoo, who is torn because he doesn´t know whether he still wants to be with Vincent. Vincent finally agreed to let Yazoo know more about his past, and that´s where we´ll pick up^^ I hope you´ll enjoy it!**

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Shadows within Darkness

Part 3

*Chapter 1*

It had been a cold winter, just like this one. The wind was howling with the wolves from the nearby forests, and thick snow had trapped the villagers in their houses for weeks.

The castle the houses were hunched around did not provide them with the much needed security from the storms, it only hovered over their crumbled, drafty shacks and soared into the grey, cloudy sky like a rotten, broken tooth.

A view fields away a band of armed persons was standing in the high, frosty snow. Two partys had gathered, standing opposite each other and glowering at one another with hostility and bloodlust.

A flag was almost torn by the wind as the young lord of the castle sat on his black horse in full armor, a sword strapped to his hip. His men, mostly farmers, craftsmen and a few warriors waited for his command, lined up against the enemy, whose army consisted of similar forces.. The winter had been too long, the stocks were emptying at an alarming rate and now it was a battle for survival. It was either fighting, with the possible premisse of winning and filling their warehouses with the other parties remaining food, or starving anyways.

Eventually the young Lord of the castle drew his sword, his horse making a restless step forward underneath him and without much ceremony thrust his hoes into the horses flanks.

With a loud neigh, horseman and animal dashed over the stony, frozen field, followed by the screaming men into the crowd of enemies that had been former friends and neighbours.

It was a hacking and slaying for survival, limbs and guts were falling to the ground,  
people were screaming as their primitive weapons, former sickles, knives and badly crafted swords were swirling around, as almost none of the fighters had ever witnessed swordsmenship at all. It was ugly, primitive and full of despair.

It looked good for Vincent´s group, as far as he could see his men were hacking themselves an advantage. That was, until he felt something sticking out of his stomache and watched red droplets slowly gathering around the shaft of the stick and falling into his lap. The sudden urge to cough made another gush of blood adding to the sattle and as if in slow motion the picture in front of him changed to the vertical and he hit the ground with a painful crush of his shoulders.

Screams were heard, dull and far away from him and his blurred vision, people that cried that he had fallen, that he was dead and he vaguely noticed how chaos around him ensued. Feet were running through his field of sight, stumbling over torn arms and frozen stones and then a man fell to the ground with glassy eyes just a few inches away from his nose, but he didn´t really see… The pain, the pain was so bad it made everything else redundant, reducing it to a mass of pointless sounds and shakes that were so unimportant because it hurt, and please could someone just make it stop?!

Vincent Valentine lay in the snowstorm for hours without any of the dead men around him hearing his fragmented, silent pleading. It was his fortune, or maybe misfortune, that his body was so very healthy and strong, though he felt it going numb slowly as the blood dropped from his gutwound, intermingling with the white surface and leaving him in a puddle that began to freeze to the ground already. The agony did not cease however, and as the light had gone and the howling of the hungry wolves came nearer, decoyed by the promising smell of human blood and food, he almost welcomed them.

Before they could feast on him however, a dark presence that came walking over the field ordered them away.

A black boot came into Vincent´s fevered sight, standing a moment beside him before it prodded him cruelly into the side and making his stomach explode with new, unknown angry fires, eliciting a harsh groan from the man. In retrospective, he did not know where he had taken the energy from, but seeing a chance to let himself be released from his agony he whispered his barely audible plea.

A gaunt, hudded face with a hawk nose came into view, a dark eyebrow arched  
and thin lips drawn into something that might have resembled a smile.

"Kill you?" the voice of the man said, and a gackling laugh followed. "I don´t think so. You seem strong. Look at that nasty wound, and you are still alive… No, I will not kill you. I will give you something better. You will make a splendid test subject…"

The man smiled his creepy smile more to himself, and then Vincent felt himself lifted from the ground and the stick in his body shifted again and this time his mind couldn´t bear it anylonger. With another groan Vincent Valentine lost conciousness and only hours later he should wish for never having left that condition ever again.

*

When he woke he felt as thirsty as never before in his life. It was such an all consuming feeling that Vincent did not even feel the lack of heartbeat, or that he was chained to a wet stone wall in a pitch black cellar.

"Oh, I see my guest has finally decided to grace us with his attention," a voice chuckled, the young landlord knew from somewhere…

A faintly familiar face came into view, grabbed his chin and gave him a scrutinizing look.

"Thirsty," the black haired young man croaked, wildly looking through the room for something that would relieve him.

"Ah, I know I know…" the man looked at him still without doing anything to help quench his thirst, but eventually followed Vincents line of view as the man had stopped rattling at the chains and eyed something standing on a table and glistening in the faint light that forced its way from under the wooden door.

"You want that?" the thin man asked amusedly and Vincent gave a sharp nod.

"Well then, you shall have it." The stranger turned around and hobbled over to the cup, grabbing it with spidery fingers and held it into Vincent´s face. Just as he was about to greedily slurp from it, the other man quickly withdrew his hand,holding a finger into is face instead. "Ah, ah, ah, not so hasty young man. What does one do if a person is so kind as to help one out of a difficult situation?"

Vincent just eyed him with feverish, uncomprehending gazes. He was so thirsty…

"One says 'Please' and 'Thank you'." The hawknose informed him.

"T-than-k you…" Vincent groaned, as it was the only think he had been able to make out from the sounds.

"Mh, that´s not quite right I´m afraid," the man looked thoughtful, but then just shrugged.

"Well, you will learn soon enough." And with that he held the cup against the others lip, watching him greedily drink from the clear liquid. He made a step back and surely a moment later a fountain of water emerged from his victims mouth as he cought and wailed in his misery.

The man chuckled, obviously finding his little joke quite amusing.

"Now, now," he good-naturedly smacked the man on his abused arm, going towards the door.

"Just you wait, I will bring you something much better. Lucrecia!" he shouted into the hallway and only moments later a woman appeared before him. "Bring our guest his meal."

Despite his hazy state, the vampire could even later, much much later remember how sweet her voice had sounded over the waves of pain that had rocked his dead body. How tempting and distracting from that nightmare…

Only moments later something awfully good smelling was held to his lips and his body authomatically took the necessary actions, pushing out his teeth and sinking them into the flesh of a five year old child that was his own.

It didn´t matter to him at that moment though, as the pleasure washed away all the agony and pain he had experienced within the last few hours.

Only when he came down to earth and recognized the small figure of his little girl laying at his feet did he scream, but there was no one there to hear it.

He refused the next meals, consisting of his wife and his son, but the hawknosed man only smiled his creepy, knowing smile and came back every night to hold their throats and horrified, pleading faces under his nose.

And he could only hold out for so long before the starving, thirsting demons betrayed him and took control and he was going mad and their dead faces look up at him and he could not bare to look at them, but there was nowhere else to look and he was already so thirsty again and wished that they wouldn´t be dead, but full of life and laughter again and blood, blood, heneededbloodnow!

The only thing that kept him sane during the tests Hojo, as the man had introduced him at some time, performed at him was his maid, or adopted daughter as he had called her, Lucrecia.

From time to time she slipped into the room when her master was gone and washed his face, spoke to him in soft whispers and told him that it was alright. It didn´t make the pain go away, but it cooled his feverish soul. He did not know what had become of him, or where he was or why he was being tortured, but she tried to let it made sense.

Lucrecia could not tell him where was, but she could say that he was now a bloodsucker, a creature that could only survive by drinking mortals´ blood and subsequently kill them. She told him a few other things about them, about their inability to live during the day and their fear for the cross, but that he had already experienced himself as Hojo had burned his flesh with a crucifix to see how severe the wounds could become. Lucrecia also informed him about her maker´s goals, namely to find out more about their race, their capabilities and their limits. Apparently Vincent wasn´t the first of Hojo´s victims, but decidedly the strongest, which didn´t make him proud in the least.

Sometimes, when he wasn´t able to talk -for example at that one time when Hojo had pulled out his teeth to see how long it would take for them to grow back- she just settled down to his feet and with her clear voice started reading out stories to him, tales about forest demons and witches, fairies, dragons, knights and princesses that were leading a peacuful life away from his hellish nightmare.

And so it came that he did not reckon time by the nights that past by, but that Vincent counted the occassions when she would appear before him with her gentle smile and soft hands, an epithome of warmth and kindness, his safe haven in this madness.

More than once did he try to coax her to leave with him, but she always just smiled a sad smile, brushing her lips over his and leaving his cell with a bounce of her ponytail.

It was not before his transformation that he could even seriously think about making his escape. But to his immense luck, it happened at a night where Hojo had decided that he had more important things to do than visiting his prisoner, that Vincent writted in sudden agony. And after what seemed like hours, two wet, leathery wings hung from his back, soar and unusuable. But the rest of his body had also undergone a dramatic change. His fingers had changed into claws, violently twitching with unknown strenght, and despite his lack of intake of food, the chains had not taken his violent trashing well, bursting under the full force of his desperation.

After he had freed himself, he had limped to the door, panting and clinging to the wall for support. His loud roaring had stirred some commotion, and he could hear light feet hurrying down the stone stairs. Only seconds later his door was opened and he grapped for the creature with one of his clawed hands, lusting for to just crush his torturer. But a frightened voice pleaded to him, and his demon eyes noticed that it wasn´t his tormentor he was holding.

Letting go of his only ray of hope, he leaned against the wall heavily. She had backed away from his intimidating figure, but then her soft hands had carefully taken his exhausted face, and he had grabbed her again, holding her tightly to his trembling form for the first time.

After that, Lucrecia didn´t have much of a choice. It was either pinning him back to the wall and making him suffer for another 50 years, maybe less if he was no longer of interest for Hojo, or take the chance of the man´s absence and go as far away as they could.

The journey was a bit of a blur, he couldn´t remember much, just the changing of the tombs they rested in and the endless wanderings on foot and occasional flights.

Lucrecia hadn´t been able to transform yet, as she wasn´t much older as a vampire than Vincent. He could remember though, that she had told him that she knew of others like them, a group of vampires that held no high opinion of Hojo and that they would certainly take them in. Vincent had just dazedly nodded at everything, not caring where Lucrecia would take him as long as it wasn´t that cellar and as long as she remained by his side.

The next thing the vampire could remember clearly again was a dark box he was lying in and voices coming from outside. It was the first memory of ever having slept in a coffin and as he should learn later it was only due to his remarkable strength and will that he had survived until that night without ever facing a burial case from the inside. At this time however, he did not appreciate his location at all and just busted it open, coming to kneel on the wood littered floor with feral eyes.

The voices around him ceased instantly, but the next moment a familiar figure crouched down by his side, holding his face between her hands and explaining softly that everything was alright now, and that they were safe.

Sceptically he watched his surroundings. They were standing, or better kneeling in a high stone hall, that was lit by hundreds of candles. Coffins, many many coffins were standing in rows around him.

Several men and women stood in front of them in a circle, dressed in fine clothing and looking at them with curious, unafraid eyes.

"He seems to be quite a little something," a cool, smooth voice remarked amusedly and from the shadow a tall, beautiful man emerged, his long silver hair swaying behind him. He approached them and the crowd divided, respectfully bowing their heads.

A low growl built inside Vincent´s throat, warning the man not to come any nearer, but Lucrecia just laid her hand on his upper arm and stood, bowing her head as well.

"He must be something if he survived Hojo´s tests for, what did you say? 50 years?"

"54," she corrected him respectfully, throwing Vincent a look that said that he should follow her example and bow before him, but the man held his hands up in a dismissing gesture.

"Please do not strain yourself. We can leave the pleasantries for later. I assume you must be quite hungry?"

Vincent just nodded, licking his lips and letting himself be helped up by his girlfriend.

"Well then, follow me please. We shall have a meal that will satisfy your hunger."

Leaning on Lucrecia for support, they followed the man, that introduced himself as Sephiroth on the way out, leaving the bedroom and the whispering group behind.

They walked what seemed to be an endless maze of catacombs and halls, meeting other vampires on the way, that all shuffled to the side and respectfully bowed before Sephiroth and his guests.

"Who are they?" Vincent asked hoarsly, glancing at them from behind his dark hair.

"Those?" Sephiroth turned another corner. "Those are my brothers and sisters. Some of them are my children and apprentices, but that shall not bother you. They will do you no harm if I do not wish for it." Vincent did not know what he should think about the implicite threat, but he made a mental note to remain wary.

Eventually they came to a large gate, guarded by two vampires with black cloaks.

"Here we are. This is our storeroom. Usually you will not be allowed to enter after dinner, but given the circumstances I will make an exception."

Lucrecia thankfully bowed and Vincent followed her example this time, but not nearly as respectful as she. A sweet, mesmerizing smell was quelling through the door, though he also could hear faint voices and weeping.

Sephiroth gave the guardians a short nod and each of them pulled at a large metal ring on the door, making it go open slowly. Once they stepped inside the room, Vincent´s hunger was instantly gone and he bent over, averting his eyes and holding his mouth.

It was stinking of fecals, urine, sweat and rotten flesh. The hall was immensly huge and barely lit, but he did not need the light to see what travesty was showing itself in front of his bewildered eyes.

On the ground stood large iron cages. And in them, jammed together, were people of all gender and age. Young and old, men and women, fat and slim, ill and healthy. From the ceiling hung even more cages, the garbage and their body liquids just dropping into the cages underneath them.

Upon noticing the three visitors, a screaming and crying started, everyone trying to get away from them as far as they could. Some corpses were just trampled over, as the vampire´s hadn´t bothered to take them out. Most of the people didn´t even resemble human beings anymore.

They were mere animals that tried to save their wretched lives for just a night longer, not caring if they had to sacrifice brother, wife or mother for their own survival.

"What is wrong with him?" Sephiroth asked with an arched eyebrow upon Vincent´s brake down.

"Nothing," Lucrecia mumbled, bending over her friend and stroking over his back "it has just been so long since he drank, is all."

"Well, he does not have to suffer from thirst from now on, he can take whatever and how often he wants. Please, choose whoever suits your taste," the silver haired man graciously held his hand out towards the cages and their poor inhabitants, smiling at his guests.

Seeing that Vincent was in no condition to make a choice himself, Lucrecia just randomly pointed at two men that looked relatively healthy and the guardians went to pull them out of their cages, throwing them before their feet. They cried and pleaded, but even if Vincent had wanted to spare their lifes, the demons just took over in need again and a minute later they sank to floor with empty eyes. After Lucrecia had taken her meal too, Sephiroth led them to another hall that occupied a large wooden tub filled with hot water and a chair with some cloths on them.

"They should be about his size. He can search for his own cloths later.. Please take your time and meet me at the entrance hall later." He bid them farewell and locked the door behind them, leaving them alone.

TBC

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**Reviews are very much appreciated^^**

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy and I do not make any money from this!


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"What kind of place is this?" Vincent asked, sinking to his knees again and shaking his head in horror.

"A safe one," Lucrecia answered quietly, crouching beside him and carefully undressing him from the ragged shrewds that were his cloths.

"They are many and they are strong. Hojo will not dare to go after us here."

Vincent shook his head again, looking bitterly to the ground "I would rather go back and suffer than abiding to their customs.."

Sighing, she stroked over his head, leaning against him. "And would you leave me here, alone? I beg you, we only have to stay for so long until you feel better and we can fight off Hojo on our own. I promise we will leave as soon as you are strong enough."

He didn´t say anything, but his arms wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly to his abused body.

Helping him up, she lead him to the tub after a while and he sank into the water, for the first time in his life experiencing a much needed bath. It wasn´t like he hadn´t occasionally swam in a river, but this was entirely different. It relaxed him and her fingers ghosting over his skin, cleaning it and washing away all the dirt made him drowsy and he dozed off, only noticing after a while that she had joined him.

He jumped back a little and pressed against the wood, averting his eyes and feeling quite awkward. It wasn´t that he had never seen a naked woman or that she wasn´t pleasing to the eye, on the contrary, she was gorgeous. Despite everything they had gone through together he could not bring himself to look at her form now.

She sensed his uneasyness and blushed a little, but then took his hand shyly and lead it to her breast, where her heartbeat should have pulsed against his.

An inviting smile followed, as she trailed his hand down her bossom and underwater.  
Feeling even more awkward and quite a little flushed, the other vampire stared at her, not knowing what to do and said the only thing that came to mind. "We still can do this? We are dead…"

"Of course we can," she smiled, glancing at the spot between his legs where it was obvious that certain things were still very alive and active and slid through the water into his arms, purring into his ear "It´s one of the many mysteries surrounding our existence."

+

They left the bathroom about two hours later hand in hand and looking a lot cleaner and relaxed.

One of the vampires, a young man with spikey black hair and a mischievous grin waited for them, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "Took you quite a while."

He winked at them and stretched his hands towards them "I´m Zack, Zack Fair. But Zack´s enough, everyone here calls me that. I´m your watchdog and guardian until you have settled in. If you have any questions, just ask me, I´m always glad to help out. Really. Except for the times when I eat, sleep, chase after Scarlets skirt, kick Genesis ass,or Seph needs me for doing some of his stupid paperwork, you know he´s a little of a pedant, always needs to keep track of who is new and who hasn´t been hunting and stuff…Yeah, I think that sums it up pretty good. Otherwise I´m always on hand."

He scratched his head, laughing and then ignored Vincent´s hand in favor to kiss the Lady´s delicate fingers first, earning himself a low, warning growl. He laughed again, this time taking Vincent´s hand and shaking it heartily, winking "Don´t worry man, I´m more for the blondes. No offence, though." He threw Lucrecia an apologetic look and then started to lead them down the hallway.

"May I ask who you are?" he asked curiously, eyeing the dark haired, beautiful man and his partner, the latter instantly apologizing. "Of course, how rude of me. This is Vincent Valentine and I am Lucrecia Crescent. Pleased to meet you."

"Same here," Zack said easily and it looked like he really meant it. He just seemed like a man who was never alone, drawing everyone to his charismatic and friendly personality.

"Ah, and just about that 'Seph' thing- Don´t tell him, he´ll throw out my guts if he hears about that. You know, he´s also quite picky with his respect thingies and such." He winked at them, Vincent blankly staring back at him, but Lucrecia smiled and gave an affirmative nod.

"Yeah, well… The meeting has been canceled and instead been sheduled for another night because she is gone for a while, so I´m to lead you a bit around and show you the most important places, you know." He stopped again and scratched his head. "I guess you´ve already seen the bedroom, the storage, the bathroom… Oh, I know, how about a visite to the library then?"

They just nodded and he led them through a few hallways again, leaving Vincent to wonder if he would ever be able to find his way through that labyrinth of tunnels and hallways. Not that he had any intention on settling down here or stay long enough to need it.

Before another wooden door with metal emblems and a sign, Vincent could not read, Zack came to a halt, putting his finger on his lips to indicate that they had to keep silent and then leading them into a huge hall.

Vincent´s eyes widened remarkably as he came to see the huge shelves that were at least ten meters high and stacked to the ceilings with literature. There were scrolls, books, papyrus, loose papers, paintings and whatnot. Never before had he seen such a large amount of written paper and it went over his horizon as what could exist to scribble them all full. He himself had only owned one book- a bible he couldn´t even read.

"Impressive, eh?" Proudly, Zack lead them around a huge, thick stone pillar and through the rows of shelves. There were large ladders that reached under the ceiling, but some of the reading vampires were just hovering before the books higher up, idly swinging their wings once in a while to hinder them from crashing down.

While Vincent was amazed by the sheer insanity of it, Lucrecia´s eyes flickered with interest and she eagerly dragged her friend behind her, occasionally pulling out a book, reading its title and squealing a little, before running to the next shelves.

Vincent followed her dazedly, not comprehending her excitement, but not complaining anyway. After half a century of torment and pain, this all seemed so unreal, like right out of one of the strories she had read to him so often…

The library would soon become his favorite place, though, after Lucrecia had taught him reading and writing, as well as latin.

It just happened that, despite all his good intension they came to settle in well. He really loathed the meals, but they had agreed that Lucrecia would just chose for him and he would get over with it as fast as he could and without doing even so much as glancing at the cages and the blooddrinkers, playing their little games with the frightened humans.

He also restricted himself to only one victim per night, earning himself the mocking and teasing of his fellow blood suckers, but he just ignored it. He spent the rest of the nights with Lucrecia in the library, albeit she soon started to work for them, though he did not know what it was. As long as she remained by his side for most of the nights and no one bothered him, he was fine. Occasionally he was invited to go on the 'hunt' with some of the others, but he always politely refused and no one insisted that he should join. He had come to like his red cloak and the simple black cloths they were providing him with, so he did not desire for anything else really.

And so the years went by faster then he could count. On some rare occasions, especially when new members were introduced, they all gathered in a huge meeting hall and had to present themselves to the entity, everyone just called 'mother'. In his first meeting he had to attend as a newby, he had to learn that she was valued like some kind of goddess. After his name was called by Sephiroth, who seemed to be some kind of her right hand man, he had to step before her, kneel down and kiss the icy, ringed fingers she held out to him from behind her blindings.

They expected him to swear his loyality to her and that he would abide to her every will,which he found rather distressing, but Lucrecia had pleaded with him and said that it only would be for so long. But even if he couldn´t see her, her presence had sent cold shivers down his spine, and Vincent Valentine was no man to be intimidated easily. It was her cold eyes boring into him and piercing his very soul, that made him tremble with utter horror. Although he had already learned how to hide his thoughts by that time he felt like his most intimate secrets were just stripped down before her and he was glad to be allowed to go back to his place in the row.

Lucrecia had told him later that she had felt exactly the same and they had to learn upon careful inquiries that everyone felt like that. Actually no one had ever seen her face or was allowed within her quarters except for her son Sephiroth, though also no one knew if he was really her son. Everyone who had made another blooddrinker was called father and everyone was someones child.

There was only one mother however. Women were not allowed here to make 'children'.

The criterias for chosing a potential child were very strict and had to be asked permission for first. Never was someone who once had become food allowed to join them and a potential candidate was investigated and tested first. It still happened that Sephiroth came to him at his usual place in the library and asked him if he had not thought about getting himself an offspring too. Vincent had politely declined, saying that he did not feel qualified enough and that, despite he really liked what he was (which had been a blatant lie), did not think he ever would. Sephiroth had looked at him strangely, taken his leave and never asked again. Still Vincent´s waryness of the man never ceased. It was just a gut feeling but he did not like him. At all.

+

Sighing, Vincent closed the lit. It was time to go back to his coffin, the library had already emptied remarkably and even though he liked these hours the best he wanted to be there when Lucrecia arrived from her work. She had been rather busy the last nights and they hadn´t seen each other very often, but for her and his sake they endured it.

Pushing himself from his chair in the farthest corner of the hall, he put his literature back into the shelf, remembering the page and then made his way through the rows, when he heared a hissing sound next to his ear and stopped in wonder. But only until he was pulled into the shadows by a swift hand that pressed him against the shelf.

"What-"

"Shhhhhhh!" came the exasperated reply and Zack held a hand over his mouth, looking through the alley of shelves if anyone had heard them and then withdrew it, looking relieved.

"May I inquire what is going on here?" the red cloaked vampire asked with a lifted eyebrow.

"Yeah, sorry about that man, just… could you keep your voice a bit lower, please?"

After a moment of thinking Vincent gave a short nod and the other sighed, whispering "Listen, we don´t have much tme, but what I have to tell you now is important, so listen well."

The others eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he nodded again nonetheless.

"Okay, you know I like you, really you´re okay and I like your calm attitude and all… But you see some of the others got a little… weird, saying that you are strange because you never participate in the huntings and don´t have offsprings and are… quite a bit antisocial…"

"Who said so?"

"Doesn´t matter right now, listen, they went to Seph and he said to give you some time. Your girlfriend also knew and tried to work it of for the both of you, but recently the voices became louder again…"

"And? They shall come to me and tell me straight to the face, I have nothing to justify."

Zack licked his lips, looking to the hallway nervously "That´s not the point here, they already decided that they will ask you to go on the hunt with them by tomorrow. If you refuse again I don´t know what happens, but it certainly will not be funny. It already reached mother´s ears."

He shot the other a meaningful look, who crept deeper into his collar. "I see."

"Yeah, so I just would advice you to endure it this time and maybe occasionally go on the hunt from time to time out of your own will, it´ll really spare you and your woman a lot of trouble."

"Well then I shall take your advice and partake in that event for once. I thank you for your concern."

"No problem, I´m still your guardian after all." Zack flashed the man a grin, but before he could take his leave he grabbed him by the arm again murmuring "Be careful from now on, if mother or Sephiroth have cast an eye on you, it usuallly doesn´t mean anything good."

The vampire just nodded again, looking somewhat grim as he vanished behind the book stacks, leaving a concerned Zack behind.

tbc 

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**Madisuzy:** Thank you dear! *huggles* It´s been a while since I updated here, dammit XD I hope you can still enjoy it though 3

** Hope you like it and leave me a review^^**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The hunt turned out to be a disaster.

Just as Zack had predicted, the next night he rose from his coffin he already found himself surrounded by a group of vampires, includig Sephiroth who asked him politely to join the scheduled hunt. Vincent had no objections this time, surprising the rest and making Sephiroth arch an elegant eyebrow.. He was then led to the surface, a round crumbled platform deep in the woods. They spread their wings, leading a large carriage that was held by some of the older, stronger vampires and flew through the night sky. The others were in an excited, almost exuberant mood that had unnerved him quite a bit, but Zack, who was flying by his side, had shot him a warning look and he had just hidden his displeased expression behind his collar.  
The wind had felt good on his wings and the night was beautiful, so the two of them fell behind a little.

"Listen, I know you have some… objections to how we manhandle mortals, and don´t try to deny it, the others noticed too. They might be cruel, but they are not stupid. You have made quite some enemies, pal. They do not show it openly and you may not care, but they do not like how you view the humans. They think it´s disgraceful for one of us to have pity with them."

"And what do you think?" Vincent asked coolly, observing the other from out of the corner of his eye. Zack shrugged and swayed his wings. "I do not think about it much. They are necessary food for me, I think. If I would let it get through to me, I´d probably become insane…Just do me a favor and do nothing stupid, alright? Just… do what the others do, get over with it and go back."

The vampire just gave a short nod, and they went down with the others, where small lights shone into the dark. It was a secluded village they had chosen, nothing large, maybe ten, twelve houses.

Silent signs were given, and Vincent followed Zack around a farm. They were about twenty, maybe more, and they had effectively surrounded the village, leaving no way to escape. The dogs had started to bark upon their arrival but become strangely silent all of a sudden. Zack, leaning against the wall motioned the other to follow and Vincent did, leaning with his back against the wall as well.

It was when he came by a window that everything went wrong.

He had just absent-mindedly glanced inwards but the sight before him caught his eye though.

There was an old woman, sitting in a chair by the fire. She had a wollen blanket drapped over her knees and a steaming cup in her little hands. Her face was wrinkled, but her eyes were still sharp and friendly. Two children, a boy and a girl were sitting by her feet, listening to her tales with stunned faces. The girl, approximately 4 to 5 winters old, clung to her older brother´s shirt, a thumb in her little boy kneeled in front of his grandmothers chair, hanging to every one of her words. Another, younger woman was sitting a little farther away, knitting and smiling at the little group. A door opened and she looked up as her husband came in with a stack of wood over his shoulders, saying something with a shake of his head that made his wife laugh, and the older woman look at him miffed, before she bestowed her attention back to her grandchildren.

It was a peaceful picture that was suddenly and brutally disrupted as the door burst open and two of the vampires bounced in the room with bared fangs and ceasy/cheesy grins.

One of them went for the man who had quick-wittedly grabbed for a wooden steak [not the food] and hauled it at the vampire, without even the slightest chance of winning the fight. His arm was held over his head before he could even try to hit the attackers and a crunching sound, followed by a scream, spoke of a very crushed bone.

The woman had thrown herself over her two children, screaming and pleading that they would be spared, but she was only pulled away from them violently, the other vampire grabbing her hair and forcing her out of the room. With the other hand he held the boy under his arm, laughing and saying something to the second vampire, who let go of the father´s arm, who meant no harm to them at all.

Pushing away the crying girl from the indignant grandmother, he pulled her old head back ruthlessly and thrusted his teeth into her neck. Eventually she stopped squirming and the vampire let go of her, grabbing the traumatized girl und pulling the man on his broken arm behind him.

"What are you doing?" Zack suddenly hissed next to him, following his gaze and groaning "Oh no please…"

"I cannot do this," Vincent declared. "I do not care what will happen to me and I am prepared for leaving your goup. But I will not do such a think."

"Look," the other hissed, licking his lips "It´s not about being thrown out here! If they get you they will kill you, or probably worse!"

"I do not care."

Zack threw his arms up in exasperation "What about Lucrecia then? They will torture her just to make you miserable, you know!"

The vampire looked at him uncertain, shifting his form. Zack moved a hand over his mouth, looking as if he was thinking very hard.

"Okay fine then," he finally said, looking a little relieved "I know; you will go back and guard the carriage, okay? You don´t have to do anything, just stand there and wait for me. If anyone asks, send them to me, okay?"

Vincent nodded, truly grateful. "Thank you."

"Yeah yeah, just… go." Zack looked a little embarrassed and just waved a hand. Vincent nodded again and went to the carriage, which was already stuffed with scared and injured villagers. Vincent told his mission to a pair of sceptical vampires, but then they just shrugged and went to help the others, glad that they hadn´t to do the boring job.

Vincent placed himself next to the carriage so he didn´t have to look at the frightened people, and tried to tune out their crying. Instead he had to look at the burning town and the fleeing villagers, which wasn´t really better.

"Mister," a woman was clinging to the metal bars, looking up at him with desperate eyes. "Please, I do not ask for mine or my husbands life, but the children… I beg you, please spare the children!"

It was the woman from the farmhouse. Vincent moved his gaze back to the village and crept deeper into his collar.

+

"That should have been the last," Zack sighed, looking a little exhausted and relieved that it was over. Usually he avoided the huntings himself, hiding behind his paperworks he prefered much to this, even though he always complained. Together they were going up the hill where the carriage had been left, pushing the last few villagers before them. But upon reaching the top, the black haired man stopped, his jaw dropping. "What the hell?"

Because there was Vincent standing with his arms defiantly folded over his chest next to an empty, open carriage.

The action proved to have been futile, though. The vampires caught the fleeing mortals soon and brought them back. Vincent didn´t even try to find an excuse and hadn´t it been for Zack´s sharp orders, the crowd would probably have tried to lynch him then and there. But so he was only escorted back and led to a cellar, where they threw him in a cell wordlessly.

Vincent remained in the hole for three nights without food, and hadn´t he been so very self- controlled and had already known what restrain meant he would have gone mad. It wasn´t only the coffin he didn´t have, but moreover his fear that they would do something to Lucrecia. After two hours in the cell he asked himself feverishly what had brought him to act so thoroughly stupid. Normally he wasn´t so impulsive in his actions, so why this time? It didn´t help much that deep inside he knew he had done the right thing.

As he was lying on the ground the fourth night, the door opened and a voice barked at him to get out.

Tiredly he pushed himself from the dusty ground, giving the general impression of being exhausted and broken. Fortunately he didn´t feel half as shattered as he pretended, but Vincent calculated that it maybe would provide him with a considerable advantage later. He harboured no doubt that whatever was to come would be rather ugly.

Rude fingers grabbed his arms and four older vampires escorted the staggering man through the badly lit catacombs. At least they predicted him strong enough to need guards… Or maybe it was the other way around, maybe they thought they had to protect him from the mob. Although there were no other vampires in the tunnels, Vincent could hear their distant voices when he only voices he hadn´t been able to detect the whole time were those of the mother, Zack, Sephiroth and Lucrecia. And that bothered him quite a bit.

Eventually they came to a halt before a large gate, Vincent had never seen before. Even so the journey here had been very odd. Obviously this was some kind of secret part of the system of tunnels, because they had had to pass a lot of locked doors and gates. This was not for the public and getting out of here would become difficult…

But it wasn´t just a prison either; the doors and hallways had been too rich and exorbitant.

There was something sacred behind the doors, and a sudden chill ran down the vampire´s spine as realisation hit him. He was standing just in front of the room, he never had wanted to ever enter. The mother´s holy quarters.

His guardians stepped away from his figure, building a half circle behind him and lowering their heads in humbleness. Shortly after, the heavy wooden gates opened with a small crack and a vampire hissed behind him to lower his head also. Vincent contemplated for a brief moment if he should rebel but then decided against it and did as he was told. Even though he did not care about what they would do to him, he didn´t want to cause trouble for his lover.

"Come in," the authorative, but not unfriendly voice of Sephiroth ordered, and with small steps and a lowered head Vincent stepped into the room. He did not see much from it apart from the rich carpet. The gates closed behind him instantly, leaving him alone with the first in command and the third presence, Vincent noticed to be that of Zack Fair.

"Vincent Valentine…" Sephiroth spoke up again, sounding thoughtful. The cloaked vampire did not know what he was expected to do, but he wavered a bit, to indicate that he really felt very weak.

"Vincent, Vincent…" the silver haired vampire sighed, ignoring the other´s seemingly poor state. "Just what am I to do with you… I believe you know why you have been summoned here?"

Vincent just gave a short nod, eyes still glued to the carpet. At the rim of his eyesight he could make out a golden chair and two black, booted crossed feet that had to belong to Sephiroth. He sensed Zack standing a bit afar from behind his master, but could not make out any of his feelings or thoughts.

"Well, I do not know what to think about your actions, to be honest. I really would like to believe what Zack has been telling me, about you being tricked by the humans and your honest intensions, but you see… inquiries with your acquaintance and the questioning of the rest of your group said something else."

Vincent´s eyes widened at the mentioning of Lucrecia, but he bit his tongue to prohibit himself from making a sound. This would have been just the reaction Sephiroth wanted.

"But I do not like to judge a person without even having heard their version of the story," the other continued, sounding generous and awfully friendly. "So I will give you the opportunity to speak your mind now. Do you deny having freed the mortals out of sympathy for their … situation." The curious question was underlaid with a barely hidden disgust at the mere idea of thinking about their food with something else than hunger.

From Zack´s corner, Vincent could suddenly feel the urgent plea to just say yes and make up a plausible reason for his foolish actions, and the image of Lucrecia popped up in his head. Gritting his teeth for a moment, and voice becoming neutral, he finally answered with a simple "Yes."

"Oh?" Sephiroth made, sounding mildly surprised. "Well, that is good to hear. It really would have been a pity to find out that one of our most valuable and dearest members had turned out to be traitor, after all we have done for him…" He trailed of, as he was rising from his seat and walked towards the prisoner. With the tip of his index finger he lifted Vincent´s lowered chin, gently forcing him to look up.. Green eyes met red and for a moment the hostility between them was taking over the room, before it vanished and was replaced by a friendly and a humble expression.

But at that moment Vincent knew for sure that something was incontrovertiable: they would kill him and Lucrecia without a doubt, no matter what he said.

"Please, have a seat," Sephiroth offered, letting go of the others chin and gesturing towards a chair next to his own.

Vincent´s eyes flickered briefly towards Zack who seemed to be immensily relieved and nodded for him to sit down. Obviously he had no idea about his master´s true intensions.

"I am sorry for the crude treatment, but you have to admit that your behaviour invited heavy misinterpretation."

Vincent sat down on the chair, briefly scanning the room with all his senses. They were deeply underground and there were no ways to leave here besides the way he had come from. Deeper behind him, he could sense the faint presence of a cold entity, which had to be the mother. It was the perfect trap.

"Now, would you please explain the reasoning behind your actions to me?" Sephiroth graced him with a friendly, curious smile, but Vincent did not return it.

"I would love to," he instead said, voice devoid of any emotion. "As I said, sympathy for the humans situation was no motivation for my decision."

"Then what was it?"

"Disgust."

Sephiroth inclined his head in question, furrowing his elegant brows a bit. "Disgust? I am afraid I do not understand that. Enlighten us, please."

Zack didn´t look less confused, but Vincent explained himself instantly.

"Very well then. I did not expect you to understand," he donned a thin smile to his lips that was rewarded with a similar one from the other vampire.

"As I said, the overwhelming emotion of disgust was what let me open the cage and help the humans to escape from the destiny you bestowed upon them. Repulsion for you and your kinship, your utter and wholly unjustified arrogance to decide whose life was to end and whose not, made me do it. The realisation that you, who treat humans as if they were nothing more than animals you can hunt down for your own joy, made me loathe you and your flock of primitive beasts to such an extent that I would rather cast your ridiculous wrath upon me than obeying your orders for any moment longer."

It was very silent in the room suddenly. The other vampires smile was frozen to his features, as his nails dug into the soft wood of the chair. Zack looked utterly horrified and as if Vincent had totally lost his mind.

Maybe he had. Vincent didn´t know. But what he knew was that he could not live with these creatures for any minute longer.

"I see…" Sephiroth eventually said slowly, relaxing his clawed fingers and trying to look undetered, even though his eyes said that he would have rather ripped the other appart then and there.. "Well, this is very unfortunate… But under those circumstances I do not see any other option for you and your aquaintance as to leave our group. I suggest you leave by tonight, I cannot guarantee your safety otherwise."

Now it was on Vincent to be surprised, but he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "You honestly want me to believe that you will just let us go?" [its a question after all]

"Of course." Sephiroth arched an eyebrow, adding dryly "I am not such a monster as you believe I am. I will even provide you with the necessities, so you and your woman can reach a safe haven."

His expression became very businesslike all of a sudden, as he leaned forward and put his fingertips together. "However, there is one condition."

Vincent crept deeper into his collar, not liking the man´s tone and the vicious sparkling in his eyes.

"You will leave an offspring."

The other looked at him in disbelieve, before his eyes narrowed again and he stated calmly "This is very considerate of you, but I have to decline. I would rather let you tear out my intestines than making another wretched creature you can use for your tremendous schemes."

"Oh, this was not my idea," Sephiroth smiled coldly "Those were mothers orders. And I suggest you explain your refusal to her yourself."

If Vincent still had had a heart it would have skipped a beat. Even the thought of 'Mother' gave him the creeps, and Sephiroth seemed to know this very well, as his cruel smile wided even more and he rose from his seat.

"This way please."

Getting up from his chair as well, Vincent followed the man to a door that led into another small hallway. Sephiroth remained in the room however, just motioning for him to go down with a polite gesture and obvious glee.

Not letting his uneasiness on, the cloaked vampire turned around, catching a last troubled look from Zack, and walked down the tunnel, hearing the door closing behind him.

tbc?

* * *

**Rina:** Aww, thank you so much *huggles* I terribly neglected this story and I am not surprised no one´s following it anymore, but I will finish it _ (just posted a brand new chapter on aff btw). I haven´t touched it in a long time, but reading it again now I wished I had included more Zack and other characters *sigh* Well, maybeI will get back to it sometime in the future^^ Thanks for your encouragement, I will keep posting here XD

**Review please?^^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

With an impatient movement, Yazoo tossed the corpse of the victim he just had feasted on into the dark catacombs that ran through the stony cliff, their castle stood upon, like empty veins through a dead body. He had no idea why there was this system of tunnels. Maybe they were escape routes or whatever, but he didn´t really care either. All the silver haired vampire needed to know was that he could conveniently dump his trash here.

Fortunately, Vincent had offered to go hunt for the both of them, seeing that he was trying to win Yazoo back and since his story was not told within one night and they needed to eat, it would have been a bit annoying and would have taken too much time for the both of them to go hunt for themselves. The ritual was shortened as well. Vincent offered the victims some food, but no bath, and called for Yazoo when he had them enticed in his visions.

While Vincent kept their prey company, Yazoo sat on the high crenel of their castle, a dark, elegant shadow before the big pale moon, silver hair swaying in the howling wind. His eyes wandered over the dead, abandoned and dismal fields or over the wild, roaring sea, but his mind was travelling different spheres. Sometimes he thought about the story he had heard from Vincent so far, and sometimes he thought about the episodes of the last days when their unwelcome guest had stayed with them. Now, in retrospect, his knees went weak and his stomach turned when he thought about how close they had been from breaking up. It also had made him careful and suspicious and his unconditional trust to Vincent had been considerably shaken. The fact that his mentor had decided in his favor in the end did not change that much; it had been too close. This did not mean that Yazoo´d leave him, he certainly wouldn´t, but the quality of their relationship had changed and Vincent noticed that too.

The raven haired vampire told his tale in a slightly melancholic, calm voice, sounding a bit tired. He wasn´t trying to get Yazoo´s sympathy, he simply told him the facts, but still, his searching, restless eyes that constantly flickered towards his student told Yazoo that he was very aware that it lay in his hands what the future´d bring for them. Yazoo had to admit that Vincent tried hard, and the bitter feelings subsided slowly. It´d surely take some time for them to become as close again and there might remain a scar forever, but it wasn´t a fatal wound.

Expressionlessly watching the corpse tumble down the pitch black shaft, Yazoo turned, satiated and ready to hear more. Vincent was already sitting at his usual place by the fire, looking deep in thought, but he immediately stood when he heard Yazoo entered. Wordlessly he stepped beside Yazoo´s wing chair, offering it with a small gesture that was acknowledged with a curt nod. They sat down and Vincent finally continued his story.

x#x#x#x#x#x#x

The hallway was only high enough so that he could barely make his way without having to lower his head. The yellow stonewalls that were occasionally lit by flickering torches guided him around many corners and twists, until he eventually could see a warm light at the end of the tunnel. Also the cold presence increased with every of his steps, making him unconsciously walk slower until there was no postponing it any longer.

It seemed that she knew about his standing before her room anyway, as a cold, genderless voice begged him to come in with a singsong voice.

"Come in, Vincent Valentine."

It sounded like many people were speaking at once, her tremendous words echoing in his head and in his ears, making him dizzy. He stepped around the corner, though, bracing himself for her sight.

There was not much to see at first. He found himself in a rather large room that was lit by candles. The middle of the otherwise bare chamber was occupied by a large lace curtain that fell around where he assumed the Mother to be in. He could make out her frame, however, as she lay in something that seemed to be an oval, golden tub.

"Come nearer," the voices sang, enticing and repulsing him at the same time and Vincent made a small, hesitant step forward. A white hand emerged from between a slit in the curtains and a single finger begged him forward again. "Nearer."

Vincent approached until the hand almost touched his chest and he could see her more clearly, even though there were no facial features to be noticed.

Hiding his face behind his high collar, the vampire averted his eyes from her blurred sight and instead watched the floor.

"What is it you seek from me?" he eventually queried, because he felt like he was supposed to say something.

A laugh was his answer, but it did not sound amused at all, and it pierced his ears painfully.

Now he knew why the Mother was never speaking with them during their ceremonies. Even one sentence from her devilish organ could cause a lesser man to loosen his mind.

"My dear child, I believe you know very well what I desire from you."

A light breeze let the curtain flutter aside, and into view came a child, sitting before the golden tub. It was about four years old and smeared with dirt, but Vincent instantly recognized it to be the girl from the farmhouse.

Holding his breath, he watched with horror as the white hand stroked the air above the dizzy girl´s locks without quite touching the human.

"You should have noticed by now… The looks my children give you… The whispers and glances… The fact that you never experienced open hostility even though the dissatisfaction with your behaviour was obvious to you… They fear you, Vincent Valentine…"

"Why would they fear me? I never meant harm to any of your offspring." The vampire let his gaze wander back to his feet, blocking out the image of the child and the hand, trying to not get lost in her maelstrom of whispers.

"Because you are strong…"

The vampire snorted bitterly. "And that is why you want me to make another?"

"Exactly…. Your first child will inherit your exceptional power and will… And it will become mine…"

A movement caught his attention and his eyes were mechanically drawn to the white hand, which lazily circled around the girl and like in a trance, the little human clumsily rose to its tiny feet. "Now…Accept my wish…"

It was like an iron curtain sank over his brain, making it hard to think, or even recognize himself as an individual with a free will. Like in a dream, the vampire slowly crouched down, his eyes glued to the artery that pulsed at him from under the girl´s taut skin.

Gods, how long had it been since he had drunk the last time? He was so thirsty…

Before his teeth could sink into the tempting carotid however, a picture flashed up in his clouded mind, a picture of another girl. His daughter, lying before his feet with glassy eyes and two nasty holes marring her childish neck. With a fierce jerk, the vampire came back to his senses and pushed himself away from the girl, crawling away from the tub and its occupant in horror. "What…!"

A chuckle engulfed the room, making his head spin around even more and the demons raging in his head didn´t make it any better. They were so hungry!

"Even after four nights without blood, you can still refuse me… This is why I want your child, Vincent Valentine… Such strength… Such restraint… "

"I will give you nothing!" the vampire growled, unconsciously baring his fangs at her, his eyes glowing.

"Is that so…?" the voices pondered, as the hand circled around the girl again, and with a sudden thrust, buried itself deep within her little stomach. Instantly, the room was filled with a shrill scream and the overwhelming scent of blood as the fingers idly moved through the girl´s guts and red rivers flowed from the white skin of the vampire. Vincent´s eyes rolled back in his head as his nostrils took in the smell and the demons were ripping at their chains.

"Now… come…. Do not torture yourself…. It is so easy…. Take its blood… and give it yours… and it will all be over…."

Slowly the vampire crept forward as he fought a battle with his inner demons to force them back under his control, but a futile fight it was.

"Come… Yes…" the thing rejoiced, laughing and shrilling in his ears, as its bloody hand beckoned him to come nearer, and helplessly, Vincent had to watch the demons free themselves from their chains and run rampant.

"No…" a croak was heard as Vincent gathered the rest of his strength to hinder himself from obeying her will. The next moment, his body convulsed, and a high pitched scream pierced his ears, as his mouth filled with blood.

The voices abruptly ceased, leaving an eerie silence and giving Vincent the time to fight himself out of his bloodlust for a few seconds. What he saw, however, was not the girl in his arms, but the white, naked body of an entirely different creature that was writhing in his grip, struggling in the bloody water she was lying in.

With horror, the cloaked vampire noticed who his victim was, but then the voices started to scream and cry in fury, making the man only tighten his grip and sinking his teeth deeper into the Mother´s throat. It was a fierce, long battle, which Vincent later could not remember much from.

The only thing he knew was the agony of her will infiltrating his mind, but since the demons had taken control by now, he had no power over himself whatsoever. Unconsciously, he noticed how he transformed, his large wings shielding them from view and covering over them as the demons greedily sucked her poisonous blood drop after drop. Eventually, she regained the upper hand again, though she was weakened from the severe blood loss, as he had sucked her out completely. Though Vincent had to deal with her swirling blood in his veins and sank to the ground groaning.

Her now gaunt, skeletal form hunched over the rim of the tub as two spidery fingers reached out to rip him apart and white, pupilless eyes furiously stared at him with insanity. "HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO JENOVA THE MOTHER!"

Maybe for once it was his luck that the demons had taken over control, because if they hadn´t, Vincent certainly wouldn't have survived her attack, as he would have been too overwhelmed by her mummified, frightening sight to remain sane or react at all, but two clawed hands shot out in reflex, grabbing her skeletal head and with a jerk, ripping it from her body.

Again the voices died, the blood in his veins stopped boiling and the demons fell back, exhausted.

The cold aura of her presence was gone.

Confused, Vincent swam back to the surface of his foggy mind, shaking his head to clear it and opening his now normal eyes. The first thing that came into view was a head. Shocked, the vampire threw it away and crawled backwards from the tub with the squirming girl, the rest of the Mother´s body hanging lifelessly from the tub and the head rolling against the curtain.

"What happened here?" The breathless voice of Sephiroth made Vincent automatically look up, as the man stormed in the room with a homicidal expression. Upon taking in the sight before him, he came to an abrupt halt though...

"M-mother…?"

Slowly, very slowly, the vampire walked past Vincent, whom he didn´t see at all by now.

All his mind could take in, was the decapitated body, the silence, and the head.

"Mother…" Blankly, Sephiroth sank down to his knees and with shaking hands affectionately stroked over the severed head, looking between the thing in his hand and the rest of her body, frowning. "You should not do this…"

Vincent had caught himself enough to know that there was no time to waste before the man would finally process what had just happened, and so he jumped to his feet. Running down the corridor, he grabbed the approaching Zack by the arm and dragged him behind.

"What the-! What´s going on?" the stunned man breathed, eyes wide. "I can´t hear her anymore!"

"Where is Lucrecia?" the other vampire interrupted harshly, sending him a fierce look and tightening his grip.

Stumbling behind Vincent, Zack had to think and then told him where he had to run, following involuntarily behind. Eventually, they came to a door the cloaked vampire pushed open, startling the only occupant and making her look up from her papers.

"Vincent!" she exclaimed, looking happy, but still confused. "What happened?" Lucrecia threw a look to Zack, but the man only shrugged.

"We have to leave," Vincent said tightly, letting go of Zack and grabbing her arm instead.

"But-" she protested, reaching for her papers, as a bloodcurdling scream shook the entire catacombs and making everyone freeze to the spot.

"Now!" the cloaked vampire hissed, pulling her away from the table and bellowing at the startled Zack "Where is the next exit?"

"Uhm… I´ll show you?"

Vincent just nodded and they hurried behind their guide.

"About that… What the hell happened? I can´t hear her anymore and I could ALWAYS hear mother!" Zack asked over his shoulder as they took a corner. Vincent only looked even more grim, if this was even possible.

"Don´t tell me- Don´t tell me you did something to her?" the man stopped dead in his tracks, making the other two almost bump into his back.

"Your so called mother is no more." Vincent affirmed coldly.

Zack´s eyes grew large like saucers, as he gaped at the man in front of him. "Holy. Shit."

Another furious roar shook the building and they could feel something approaching. Fast. Something insanely strong and something very, very, very angry.

"Hurry!" Zack pressed through gritted teeth and started running again.

"Wha-what is this?" Lucrecia asked breathlessly as she was dragged behind.

"Sephiroth. He´s transformed and, believe me, you do not want to meet with him now!"

Zack suddenly stopped again and pushed a stone into a wall, making a hidden door appear in the wall. Zack ushered them inside the pitch black tunnel, hissing "Just run to the end and then see that you get the hell out of here!"

Vincent was already in the tunnel, but Lucrecia took the time to take the man´s hand, saying, "Thank you. See you again." Then she was dragged into the darkness.

"Hopefully not," Zack murmured, and then he slipped the door back.

x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x

And so their yearlong escape began. Sephiroth chased them with infinite energy and wrath, all around the world. Whenever they believed that they had lost him and had settled down somewhere he would appear and they always barely escaped his insane urge for destruction.

Wherever they went Sephiroth left a bloody path in their wake, killing everything and everyone that came to stand between him and his goal. Even though they never let him near enough to come face to face Vincent and Lucrecia knew from the violent, unbridled blood lust that radiated from his presence that he had completely lost his mind.

It probably would have been a lot more plausible to face him and have a battle to the death instead of enduring this tiring life. Vincent was confident that he had a fair chance making it out alive. He could feel the change in his entire body that had come with consuming the Mother´s ancient blood, the power pumping through his veins. But it was also that very same blood that restrained him from seeking a direct confrontation. Because whatever Jenova had been, a monster, a sadistic, cruel blood drinker, she had in fact been Sephiroth´s mother and maker. He was her first son and had all her appreciation, as well as her power. Her blood inside Vincent´s dead body refused to battle him.

So they ran and slowly but surely the distances between them settling down and Sephiroth finding them became larger, until eventually, they could not feel him anymore.

Vincent was wary though. He did not believe that a madman like Sephiroth would give up so easily without satisfying his thirst for blood and without having carried out his revenge. It seemed that everything went well for them for a while though. They settled down in an old church, where they slept during the day and during the nights they went into the cities, hunting. Lucrecia had been able to transform by now and so even long distances were no problem for them.

Vincent could convince her to agree to his one-victim-per-night policy, and the rest of the nights were spent in peaceful quiet. Or so he thought. As another 20 years had passed, her absences during the night became longer and she seemed somewhat restless. When he asked her about it, Lucrecia just smiled and kissed him before going back to brooding over her documents. Vincent knew that it were the same files she had rescued the night of their escape, but she never showed them to him and he never asked, respecting her privacy.

More and more he came to the conclusion that they were the source of her uneasiness however, and after 18 years of them being together the night came when he noticed that she had drunk from more than two victims. He tolerated it for about two months, thinking that it was just a phase and that she would cease doing it by herself. But instead of less victims it became more and eventually he couldn´t keep quiet anymore. Upon his careful inquiry, Lucrecia looked only a little guilty and asked him to be lenient with her, that she had really tried, but she wasn´t as strong willed as he was and she needed the blood. He gave his quiet consent after a long discussion, trying to hide his disappointment as well as he could, hoping that her strange mood would come to an end now.

It got better for a while, but eventually Lucrecia´s periods of absence became longer again, going to the point that she was away for entire weeks without telling him where she went.

He could feel the distance between them increase and it pained the vampire to no end, but he also had no idea how he could stop it. One night after he had feasted, he therefore made the momentous decision that it could no longer go on like this.

After he had made sure that she wasn´t coming back too soon by reaching out for her presence and not finding her anywhere near, Vincent went over to her coffin and took out the papers she always had there with her. He did not feel good about reading her obviously most private documents, but he was desperate and did not see any alternative.

And so he settled down in his chair and flicked through the pages. They were in no order and only fragmented,but they told him everything he needed to know nonetheless. Apparently they were documentations about tests she had conducted during their stay with the vampires. And to his shock Vincent had to notice that they seemed to be of a very similar nature to the experiments Hojo had performed on him only a century earlier.

They spoke of recovery times and the anatomy of blood drinkers, one could only know if one took a 'deeper look' into the subjects´ bodies. Vincent did not know if she had performed any of the horrendous tortures herself but she had known about them without a doubt and apparently not objected against them.

What disturbed him most was that there were also entries that had been made just very recently. With trembling hands he put the papers down and then laid them back into her coffin.

Three nights later Lucrecia graced him with her presence again. Of course he confronted her with his findings. Instead of remorse, she only showed anger that he had dared to read her diaries. Desperately, Vincent tried to understand what was driving her, but all she could offer were passionate explanations about how important it was to know about their kind and hence casualties had to be made. It was totally beyond his ability of comprehension and he asked her finally, if she was going back to her work during the nights she was absent.

Lucrecia bit her lip and admitted that, yes, she had a deal with Sephiroth. He would not chase them any longer and she would continue his tests. Vincent fell into his chair, crestfallen, trying to comprehend what had happened behind his back all these years.

She just stood beside her coffin and watched him in his misery, not knowing what to say, having no words of comfort to offer.

Eventually Vincent looked up at her again and begged her to end it instantly. If it was their safety she feared for, he would face and destroy Sephiroth. Falling into his arms she said that it was all right, that he did not have to do it and that she was sorry for having him caused so much pain. They remained in their embrace for quite a while until dawn came and they had to go back to their coffins. With a kiss she promised him that everything would be all right, that she loved him still and they parted.

The next night she was gone, as were her documents. Of course he instantly searched for her, but she had either shielded her presence from him or had already gone too far. Vincent found no trace of her. He even went back to the vampires' former hideout, but the catacombs were vacant, the halls empty and dusty and he had to return to his own coffin empty handed.

Two months later he got a visit from his arch enemy, who stood in the doorway, smirking, gloating at his misery and bringing the message that Lucrecia did not wish for him to search for her. Of course Vincent didn´t believe one word and attacked instantly, but Sephiroth only hold a handwritten letter into his furious face that said exactly the same and the vampire had to accept it, no matter how much it pained him.

He blamed himself for this outcome, thinking that she wouldn´t have left if he hadn´t betrayed her trust. Drawing himself deeper and deeper into a world of resignation and misery, Vincent had stopped eating and tried various ways to end the pain. But the only way he knew how to kill a blood drinker was unusable on himself on his own.

Occasionally Sephiroth came by to bask in his destitution and at one point Vincent had even begged him to end his life, but the other had only laughed, smirking that he liked Vincent like that much better than dead.

And so it continued for decades, with Vincent being unable to kill himself nor getting over it.

Eventually he got back on his feet, sort of, forced himself to set up some kind of routine again, by buying a house and building a library that would provide him with maybe a few restful hours, but it only worked for so long before he got caught up in the depressing reality again. And then the night had come where he found two boys in an alley, one beaten up after a failed attempt to 'earn' some money, and the other desperate to rescue him.

Yazoo got very attentive when Vincent hesitantly told him about their first meeting that the young vampire had forgotten. The elder had to be delicate about the matter or he would destroy more than he would gain. He didn´t want to lie about it either, so he held Yazoo close, paying attention to his expression, since he couldn´t catch any hints from an accelerated heartbeat, or a hitched breath.

He started on how he had come to the town, how he had built himself a home, found Aeris as a maid. He´d been living in the house for not even a year when Yazoo and his brothers had taken refugee in the city. Vincent had seen them during one of his hunts at the harbour, prowling close to the bars. It wasn´t a too unusual sight, sadly; orphans were seen there every now and again and Vincent had suspected that they were trying to get hired on a boat or ship as shipboys. Maybe they were searching for another kind of job, maybe they were selling their too young, dirty thin bodies. Vincent didn´t give it more than a fleeing thought because children were off his menu. No matter their actions they were innocent, couldn´t be hold responsible. Or so he thought unless he caught a cold thought that made him stop in his tracks and hide in the shadows above the roofs.

"We gotta kill da next one an I dun care if they´re whining an´complainin' again. So sick o' it..."

He tracked it back to the long haired middle child with the hauntingly green eyes that stared coldly out of a smudgy, muddy face. Instantly, the vampire was intrigued, alarmed and strangely captured by those startling orbs and ruthless thoughts. He couldn´t smell any blood on the boy, so he most likely hadn´t killed anyone yet, and a quick scan of his mind confirmed that. Vincent believed in free will and the power of choice, so under normal circumstances he would have left the kids alone; just because someone thought of killing someone else didn´t mean that they would. Thoughts were free and constructed; actions defined a person.

With Yazoo it was different however. For some reason, the vampire mislabelled as boredom, he started following the brothers around discreetly, watching them, watching Yazoo.

And then, one night, he decided that he just didn´t want to watch anymore; Vincent wanted those jade jewels to look at him, see him. Somewhere in his subconsciousness voices were battling. One was protesting that he couldn´t just take the boy because he wanted to, another voice argued that the boy was dangerous and that he had to be stopped before he hurt someone. The discussion was going on and on, but Vincent didn´t even listen. He waited for his opportunity and then he made his move.

The vampire told Yazoo what had happened that night in a calm steady voice, how they had proceeded in pretty much the same manner that they still did with their victims. Yazoo seemed a bit pale during that part of the story and Vincent gently stroked with his thumb over the young vampire´s back reassuringly. He told his lover that in the end he wasn´t able to do it, because he realised that Yazoo was just a scared, desperate boy that tried to get his brothers through, even though he acted all tough and cool. On top of that Vincent came to know that he didn´t want to kill Yazoo; he wanted him, but not in the usual way.

Confused, Vincent had just erased the boy´s mind and brought him back to the shack Yazoo and his brothers occupied. It wasn´t before he had drunk some of Yazoo's blood, though, to built a mental connection. This way Yazoo wouldn´t be able to escape him; no matter where he went Vincent would find him if he chose to, even though for now the vampire had planned to bring some distance between the two of them, to give it a rest and get his strange desires and cravings under control.

As it was things turned out differently.

The next night his intervention was required already and a dark part of his soul Vincent wasn´t proud of took advantage of the desperate situation the brothers were in. Like a n egocentric brat that went over dead bodies to get what it wanted Vincent cruelly ripped the little family apart for his own selfish curiosity. He demanded Kadaj give him Yazoo. Admittedly, Vincent had planned on helping and healing him. And he had also planned on compensating the other two; had planned to go back there the next night, to give them money, gold and a good, carefree life. And who knew; once he had satisfied his curiosity about Yazoo he might allow them to reunite and be together again. All this he told Yazoo with a quiet, remorseful voice, though he was vague about the nature of Yazoo´s injuries. There was no need to add yet another trauma, and Yazoo didn´t ask. He didn´t say anything at all, just listened.

So that had been the plan, but reality taught Vincent that though he reigned at the top of the food chain he was by no means almighty. The next night he went to the boys' shack he hadn´t found anything but two cold, little corpses. It had been a hard slap into his arrogant, bloodless face but it was something that couldn´t be made undone. After a while of just staring at their pale dirty bodies lying hunched together on the dusty ground, illuminated by cold moonlight that spilled through the wood, Vincent gathered them in his arms. They were far too light and bony, and another emotion Vincent thought he had forgotten long ago crawled up to his heart and squeezed it mercilessly: sympathy and pity, mixing up to regret.

Kadaj´s head lolled back strangely over the vampire´s elbow as his neck had been broken. At least it had been a quick, painless death, but Vincent had to shut the boy´s empty, accusing eyes still. Loz hadn´t been so lucky it seemed, his body was black and blue; he must have fought like a lion to protect his little brother. Vincent had a pretty good idea against whom they had been up to and his eyes turned crystal hard.

Still, before he hunted them down he cleaned the two boys up. He dressed them in fine wool and found a priest who was willing to give them a proper, discreet burial, for a generous donation of course. Vincent couldn´t attend the ceremony himself, but he watched from afar and gave the boys his last respects. He had briefly contemplated bringing Yazoo, but the boy was still sick and weak and Vincent doubted that he would have the strength to go through this.

After the burial he hunted them down.

It was the same men that had attacked Yazoo the day prior and they didn´t even try to deny what they had done to the children. Their deaths weren´t as pleasant as the ones Vincent usually granted his victims; there was no warm bath, no rich food, no satin sheets. It was a bloody, long hunt and Vincent was playing with them like a cat with mice, but he didn´t do it for his amusement but their pain and misery. In the end they were begging, soaked in their own piss but there was no mercy for them. The vampire felt that he owed it to the boys and he took revenge for them, all right. It was all he could do. Apart from tying to make it up to Yazoo that was, by giving him a home, education, everything he could wish for. Of course this could never lift the burden of guilt from the vampire´s shoulders, but at least he could pretend it did. And then everything had turned out so very different than Vincent had planned.

His strange infatuation with the potty mouthed boy had taken over once the shock about getting his brothers killed had worn off and Yazoo started to get older. Yazoo turned out to be bright, thoughtful, quiet... and ultimately irresistible. At a certain point Vincent didn´t really want to resist anymore, though he kept telling himself otherwise. It placated his conscience for as long as it took Yazoo to run out of patience. Till that night where he killed himself, or at least attempted to; that was the point where Vincent couldn´t lie to himself anylonger, where he was stripped off his fake detachment, left vulnerable and raw.

And right now he just felt like that night again, desperate and exhausted and it was all depending on Yazoo again; whether he forgave Vincent, accepted his company or would turn his back on his maker for good.

tbc


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Zack hurried through the dark, moist halls of their underground estate, a system of age old catacombs underneath an abandoned graveyard. Ahead of him, the flickering lights of a few candles indicated that he had almost reached his destination. He could feel his lover´s spirit, dull and black. It was so different from the usual bright blazing that scorched everything around it. Zack wasn´t sure yet what he liked better. As he reached the hall, he stopped in the doorway, his brilliant eyes scanning the room.

Sephiroth crouched on the closed lid of his heavy stone coffin, moodily staring into a flickering, dying candle.

"There you are," the vampire said affectionately, closing the distance between them. Sephiroth neither said anything nor moved, nor did anything else to acknowledge Zack´s presence. But the young vampire wasn´t discouraged in the least. Well, maybe not that young, though he still looked the 17 years he´d been when he had 'died'. Sephiroth had turned him, out of a whim maybe, but since then the young man had been sticking to the noble older vampire and now he was the only one left. Ever since Lucrecia had gone, Sephiroth had been melancholic, thoughtful to a point where Zack was seriously worried. His master hadn´t drunk, hadn´t left the catacombs... but then again, he´d never seemed so sane and lucid in a long, long time, as if all his ire and bloody thirst for revenge had dried up.

Sighing, Zack walked up behind the man and leaned his forehead against Sephiroth´s back. He thought that he knew exactly what was going on in his Master´s glorious head; with Lucrecia gone, there was no longer any leverage he had on Valentine and apparently his plan to lure Valentine´s new lover away hadn´t been fruitful.

"Maybe it´s time to let go. To find something else to do, to live for." Maybe 'live' wasn´t the right word, but they still used it. "We could start thinking about our own future, for example."

His resolve faltered at the last suggestion. All these many years, Sephiroth hadn´t given a damn about anything but Valentine and Zack had wondered if he meant anything to his master at all. While everyone else had left the man or was abandoned, Zack had done his everything to stay with him, to take care of him, to find places where they could sleep, to hide them from too curious views, to deal with the daily necessities. There´d never been a word of gratefulness from Sephiroth, ever. Zack sighed again and drew his arms around his Master´s stiff shoulders.

"Why are you still here?"

The question startled Zack and he tensed. He hadn´t even thought that Sephiroth was listening. At least, it hadn´t sound spiteful but calm, tired.

"I think you know, don´t you?" Zack´s blue eyes closed when he pressed his cheek against Sephiroth´s cool, silky hair.

The man didn´t reply but Zack felt that something was about to change. He was confident.

x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x

"My lady, it is time."

Tifa started, her eyes finally drifting away from the porous stone monument. The rain was dripping from the statues around her and the moldy, wooden crosses that belonged to the peasants and lower ranked citizens. Finally she laid down her flowers before the tomb that assured the cold sleep of the last remains of the Strife family. Blinking away the tears that stung her eyes, Tifa donned a small smile to her face and looked back at the maid that held her sleeping son, a golden tuft of hair peeking from underneath the thick blanket he was wrapped in. He was such a lovely child, so silent and honest, as his father had been.

'Cloud, if only you were here to see him. I am sure you would love him with all your heart.'

She gulped down the lump that was stuck in her throat, always appearing when she came here. Cloud had been so despaired, his heart had been so sick and in the end, it had killed him. He´d become so sick... but he had died peacefully at least. The day Tifa had told him that she was pregnant, the light in his eyes had reappeared and despite his advanced sickness, he had smiled and laid his hand on her belly. He had made her promise to find a good husband, someone who would take care of her and the child and she had, honouring his last wish...

...and she would continue to do so, raising his son into a fine young man. Standing in the rain in the freezing cold wasn´t what a good mother would do, she decided and finally she turned back to the maid, taking her son and with a last look back, they went home.

x#x#x#x#x#x#x##x#x#x#x#x#x##x#x#x

A few thousand miles away in an abandoned castle, Lucrecia was bent over a dead body, ignoring the screams and howls from the cells in the cellar. Hojo was busy doing experiments again and she was supposed to examine the dead bodies. What had caused her to ever turn her back on this place was beyond her.

Everything was as it should be again.

x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x#x

They were silent for a while as Vincent´s last words faded away into the library. The story had taken three long nights, being only interrupted by hasty meals and the obligatory daybreaks. Now they were sitting in their chairs, each of them occupied with their own thoughts, though Vincent threw a glance at his partner occasionally. No sign of what Yazoo might have thought showed on his features though, so the black haired vampire could do nothing but wait.

The young man pondered Vincent´s story for a while, then he looked up from behind his bangs, saying in a remarkably cold voice, "I thank you for telling me."

Vincent refrained from making a comment but he could clearly sense his partner´s distress now. He wished that he could have spared him the painful memories of his brothers but Yazoo had insisted.

"I will not say anything else," Yazoo finally informed the other, knowing very well that it would pain the older vampire as well as himself. It had been so many years since he had lost Kadaj and Loz and though it was true that time healed wounds, the scars were still present and they ached. As much as he wished that he could blame Vincent for their deaths, Yazoo knew that they'd had it coming. It was a miracle that they had survived for that long anyways... and now they finally rested. They were spared a life of hunger and misery, if that was anything. It probably wasn´t but Yazoo didn´t know how else to handle the enormity of their loss. If he was to voice his feelings, hurtful and unfair things would surface and now wasn´t the time for that. Some day, maybe. But not tonight.

Sighing, Vincent leaned back and looked at the ceiling, tired. "Do you wish to confirm my tale by accessing my mind now?"

The other shook his head, getting out of his seat and settling down at the other´s armrest.

Vincent pulled him close and buried his head in the curve of Yazoo´s neck, enjoying the closeness and seeking comfort in his presence.

Slender fingers slowly stroked through his raven hair, as Yazoo melancholically pondered, "Ill luck always comes to the wrong people, doesn´t it. I see why such things would happen to us, we played with fire. But you..."

Vincent looked up without moving his head, and answered. "Do not be mislead, I am not as pure as you may think I am." Inwardly he was touched though. Yazoo thought so highly of him, even after all the horrid tales he had just heard. It was somewhat painful too because Vincent knew that he didn´t deserve it. He had done so many terrible things, had made so many wrong decisions and the vampire knew that he was weak.

Yazoo just gave him a look that said otherwise and the other vampire inwardly sighed. There was no use in trying to convince his lover otherwise once he had set his mind on something. Vincent could as well have tried to talk to the wall.

But it was all right now.

They would stay together and if he was honest, despite the pain that had come with the memories again, the vampire felt kind of cleansed now. It had felt good to finally get it off his chest for the first time. There hadn´t been anyone who could have listened and the knowledge alone that there was someone who cared, made him feel free from his suffering. He needed Yazoo as badly as Yazoo needed him, maybe even more so and the boy´s conduct assured him that Yazoo would stay.

Besides, in retelling his tale, Vincent had come to recognize some important things about himself and also the relationship he´d had with Lucrecia.

One thing was that he realized now that she had never truly needed him, even from the very beginning. He did not know what had led her to come close to him; maybe it had been genuine affection but whatever it was, it had never been the desperate need for company that had driven him into her arms. She had been kind to him, his safe haven, his ray of hope, his goddess... and in his infinite devotion to her, he had failed to see what creature she truly was and that his and her desires were not compatible.

She sought knowledge over anything and at any price. All he wanted was peace of mind and a person that loved him with all his mistakes and flaws, just as he was and that he could devote his heart to in return.

"Will you stay with me?" Vincent finally asked, his grip around Yazoo´s waist tightening possessively.

Instead of answering Yazoo leaned over, taking Vincent´s face in his hands to kiss him on the lips. The other vampire hungrily kissed back, surprising the younger one with his passion. Before he knew it, Vincent had gathered him in his arms and with inhuman speed, transferred them to a bedroom.

Yazoo found himself lying on a soft mattress, head resting against soft cushions. In the blink of an eye, Vincent had tied a silky sheet around his wrists and wrapped them around the bedpost.

"What-"

"Shhh." Vincent silenced him with a kiss, slipping his tongue between Yazoo´s parted lips and licking over his pearly, sharp teeth. "Let me do this for you..."

Then he gently bit down Yazoo´s throat, drawing some blood and licking it away, watching his lover squirm in delight.

"Let me show you..." he muttered, kissing down Yazoo´s smooth chest, ripping his shirt open and teasing a nipple with his teeth.

"... how much..."

Yazoo moaned and bucked into Vincent´s hard body as the man assaulted his navel. Again Vincent dug his teeth into the tender flesh, piercing a vein. The little dent filled with the intoxicating red liquid and the vampire lapped it up feverishly. His fingertips glided over Yazoo´s waist and hips, slowly pulling down the waistband of his black velvet pants to reveal a rosy erection.

"...you mean to me."

Pulling the pants down Yazoo´s ass and legs, getting rid of his boots in the process, Vincent crawled up again and pressed his bloody lips against his student´s throbbing cock. Yazoo yearned to touch as well but then it was so good to just lay there and be spoiled... and spoil him, Vincent did. His hands and lips were everywhere, making Yazoo´s cold skin burn, his flesh stiffen, his nerves sing. The little entrance hidden between firm buttocks was puckering and craving to be touched but Vincent was still busy gently gnawing at Yazoo´s nipples.

"Hm, that´s quite convincing," Yazoo moaned, bucking into the touch. It was almost unbearable, the tension and tightening, the licking and the kisses. The feverish looks that Vincent graced his naked body with... There was desire, clearly but something deeper as well. It made Yazoo feel warm despite the delicious treatment.

"I hope it is..."

"But I am sure you can be even more... convincing," Yazoo coyly suggested with a smirk, thrusting his pelvis up to make Vincent feel his hard flesh. The other vampire smiled back and lowered his head, fingertips stroking over the inner thighs of Yazoo´s brazenly spread legs. His wet tongue trailed over Yazoo´s prominent hipbone, before he finally flicked it over the moist head of Yazoo´s dick.

"Ah, yesss, that´s good..."

Up and down the shaft, he brushed with his lips. Then the older vampire licked his lips.

"You´re very tasty, my dear boy." To prove his point, he gripped the pulsing flesh, squeezed it and pulled back the skin to reveal the rosy glans. Then he relaxed his throat and took Yazoo in to the hilt, his nose bumping against the white skin. It took Yazoo everything he had to not come right then and there but Vincent was insistent. He hollowed his cheeks and started to suck with loud, slippery noises that accompanied his lover´s moans. Vincent´s tongue stroked over the underside of Yazoo´s erection for extra friction and fluttered his lashes as he found that Yazoo watched him.

"You look so pretty with cock in your mouth," the young man said cockily, pushing into the warm, wet cavern. Winking, Vincent couldn´t suppress a smile but then he concentrated back on his blow job. He didn´t even still Yazoo´s sharp thrusts but let him ruthlessly fuck his mouth, even encouraging the boy with low moans. His palms found soft balls and started to massage them, gently squeeze them and roll them around to the point where Yazoo was tossing in his bindings.

"S-stop! I´m going to cum!"

But it was too late already, as Vincent felt the warm seed spurt down his throat. He kept sucking and bobbing his head up and down with insane speed. Finally he let go with a last, long suck and licked his lips again where a bit of cum had spilled.

Yazoo pressed his warm face into the silken cushion, exhausted. "Very convincing indeed," he sighed, closing his eyes. They flew open again when Vincent kept licking his nether regions. At the surprised look he received, the older vampire chuckled. "You didn´t think it was already over, did you?" Clearly Yazoo had thought so.

"Why, there´s so much else I want to do with you... Since your body is so oversensitive now..." His point was proven when he spread Yazoo´s buttocks and stroked over the thin perineum with his pinky. Yazoo gasped and tried to shirk away but Vincent wouldn´t have it.

"Ah, I know you like that... Especially when I lick you here..." Letting his words follow with some actions, the vampire slowly touched the hot wrinkle with the tip of his tongue, tracing around it.

Yazoo´s back arched off the mattress as he hissed, showing his teeth. "Ah, Vincent, that´s not fair! Untie me!"

"Hm, I don´t think so." Both of them knew full well that it was ridiculously easy for Yazoo to just get rid of the bindings but apparently the boy didn´t really want to and Vincent was more than thrilled to play along. "I want to make you scream," he uttered huskily, licking wetly over the clenching entrance. His own cock was already screaming in his too-tight pants, forming a visible bulge in the shape of his engorged penis. A tiny wet spot soaked through the fabric where precum was dripping from the tip.

"Now look what you have done," the older vampire frowned, continuing his ministrations with his fingers while he opened his pants to pull out his dark-veined cock, stroking it sensually and slowly for Yazoo to see.

"It´s not my fault it got so big," Yazoo protested with childlike, round eyes but the hunger in them was evident.

"Whose fault is it then?" Vincent asked, letting go of the hard organ so that it stood up proudly by itself. "You are responsible and you will have to receive your punishment."

"Please no," the younger vampire whispered but couldn´t hide half a smirk. Vincent snorted and lowered his head again to unceremoniously push his tongue inside Yazoo´s ass.

"Uh, Viiiincent!" Yazoo pretended to protest but he could feel his own cock already stiffening again. It didn´t help that his Master started to brush up and down the hardening length with his thumb to encourage the blood flow and the mind numbing pleasure. Yazoo thought he was going crazy with desire, barely able to say a coherent sentence, especially with Vincent´s tongue darting in and out of his anus. Ah dammit, he so loved being tongue fucked and Vincent did it so masterfully! And he had such a long tongue too... Feeling Vincent´s lips press against his hole and the slick muscle licking and squirming inside him, Yazoo´s brain was overwhelmed with desire and lust.

"Ah, pl-please!"

At the request Vincent stopped, looking up. "Please what?" he purred, pushing two fingers inside and scissoring them.

"Please... AH!" His sweet spot had just been hit and Yazoo´s eyes rolled back in his head. Vincent couldn´t help himself, he just had to poke the boy´s prostate again.

"Please...?"

"Oh dammit, just fuck me already!" Yazoo couldn´t muster the patience to play games any longer, he was seriously going insane. The level of pleasure he was experiencing right now was beyond anything he´d ever felt, even more so than feeding. Maybe it was due to the fact that his body hadn´t had a chance to come down from his last orgasm...

"Who could resist such a request?" Vincent certainly couldn´t. Hurriedly, he replaced his cock with his fingers and thrust inside the narrow, slick channel easily until he was in balls' deep. Yazoo was not the only one to produce a relieved sob.

For a few seconds, Vincent remained stock still, his forehead resting against Yazoo´s chest, eyes closed. There was nothing as fulfilling as being inside his lover; nothing felt more like being home. Their bodies, their minds and souls were connected, melting into one huge, pulsing organ that wildly swirled into all directions, making them dizzy.

"Move, please," Yazoo eventually pleaded and Vincent happily complied. He pulled out and then rammed inside, repeating the motion slowly at first, further building up the already built-up tension. His mouth found Yazoo´s again and as their movements became faster and frantic, so did their kisses. There was blood again that made them even dizzier and they feverishly lapped it from their tongues, teeth, lips chins and throats.

The slapping noises became louder and louder as did their moans and sighs. Vincent´s balls bounced off Yazoo´s ass, his dick vanishing inside the glistening hole over and over again. At one point, Vincent pulled Yazoo´s legs over his shoulders and the deepness that awaited him sucked him in, made him lose control and abandon all sense and consideration.

Eventually it was just too much and with a last few, deep jabs, Vincent roared in his climax. For a moment, it was as if his mind was catapulted out of his body, performed a somersault and then was pulled back. He could feel his seed spurt into Yazoo´s body with a force that made some of it spill over and flow down between the boy´s buttocks.

Yazoo´s own cum splattered partly onto his face due to his bent position and a bit of it landed on Vincent chin as well. Their hair was matted to their flushed faces as Vincent let Yazoo´s pelvis sink down, pulling out. Effortlessly Yazoo put his arms down, not even noticing that he had ripped off the bindings and rolled into a ball, trembling, but being utterly happy. Vincent collapsed beside him and pulled him close and they shared another blood and cum flavoured tongue-kiss.

Everything was as it should be again and it would stay that way for eternity.

**Epilogue**

Somewhere on a ship, a young man leaned against the railing and looked out over the calm sea to the tiny houses and other ships that awaited them at the harbour. The sky was a dark grey and soft rain was falling onto the wooden panels, dripping into the man´s collar and neck, some of it sticking to his red hair. Water underneath them, water above them... Slowly he was getting really sick of all the goddamn water! He almost couldn´t light his pipe properly anymore and without his pipe, he was impossible, really.

"Reno?"

The man didn´t turn but inwardly sighed. "What the hell is it now, yo?" he grunted, rolling his eyes. "Ya brotha too dumb to da scrubba 'gain?"

"He´s no' dumb!" was the instant protest again, followed by a muttered "Yest a lil slow..."

Finally the redhead turned around, facing the boy (well, young man, Reno corrected himself in his head) that stood before him in his ragged, wet clothes that were way too short now and dirty to boot. A hand was stemmed against his hips and his soft lips were drawn into an accusing pout. "Yeah yeah, whateva." Kadaj didn´t look very appeased but at least he pushed his hair out of his face and came to stand beside Reno, looking out to the shore.

"Ya think we'll find him 'ere?"

Again, Reno inwardly sighed and shrugged. "Dunno. I sure as hell hope so, I´m getting' sick o' dis. Ya sure he ain´t kicked da bucket a'ready?"

"No! Loz says he can still feel 'im!" Kadaj fervently denied, shaking his head harshly. "Yazoo´s alive an' we gotta find him!"

"A'right a'right, we´re gonna find him," Reno muttered when he saw the boy´s shoulders slump. He put a hand on his arm, not even sure why.

"We´re gonna find him, yo."

end

* * *

**Many thanks to all readers and betas and reviewers who have followed this story through to the end, I hope you enjoyed the journey, as I certainly did^^**

**Last chance to share your thoughts with me, don´t be shy ;)**


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